LADY BULLDOGS DIG HOLE, BUT EMERGE TO BEAT KELLY

It was another typical game for the state-ranked Notre Dame girls basketball team Thursday night as they hosted the Kelly Lady Hawks.

The Lady Bulldogs stumbled at the start, fell behind early and then blew their competition away in the second half.

Despite falling behind 11-2 in the first quarter, Notre Dame used a big third quarter to knock off Kelly 46-33.

The victory improved Notre Dame, ranked 10th in the latest Class 2A poll, to 16-7 overall and solidified its selection as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming 2A, District 2 Tournament. Kelly, the No. 2 seed in that same district, fell to 18-6 overall.

Despite the victory, Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim was far from pleased by his team's play. The Lady Bulldogs' bumbling beginnings are something he would like to see corrected before the district tournament begins.

"We can't keep doing this," Grim said. "We dig ourselves a hole starting out and one of these times we're going to get buried by it."

Grim was so aggravated by his team's play early that he pulled all five of his starters from the game with 1:56 left in the first quarter and Kelly ahead 8-2.

"The people I had on the floor weren't getting the job done," said Grim. "They might as well been sitting on the bench so that's where I put them."

Kelly scored the next three points, but sophomore Michelle Hency provided the Lady Bulldogs a spark to end the quarter with a 3-pointer to make the score 11-5.

Notre Dame's starters returned to begin the second quarter and, led by senior Olivia Beel, outscored Kelly 19-10 to take the lead for good.

"We had them down and then the lull started," said Kelly coach Clay Vangilder. "We played as hard as ever, we just couldn't get anything done."

Beel scored eight of Notre Dame's first 10 points in the quarter as the Lady Bulldogs closed the score to 16-15. A 3-pointer by senior Melissa Maurer with 2:20 left gave Notre Dame the lead for good 18-16.

"Olivia did good once she got started," Grim said. "She hit the boards well and when she got the ball inside she put it in the hole."

Beel was one of the five players taken out of the game in the first quarter by Grim. She didn't appear to be too discouraged by the benching, scoring eight of her team-high 10 points in the second quarter.

"That usually happens to us," Beel said. "We have a way of getting down at the start, but so far we keep coming back."

Trailing only 24-21 at halftime, Kelly turned the ball over five times and missed all seven of its shots in the third quarter. Notre Dame outscored the Lady Hawks 8-0 to lead 32-21 entering the final quarter.

"We were shut out the third quarter, but we're still in the ball game," Vangilder said. "We just had too many turnovers. We didn't get that many shots in the second half."

Both teams struggled with turnovers and shooting in the physical contest. Kelly shot just 29 percent from the field (10 of 34) and had 24 turnovers. Ashley Dirnberger led the Lady Hawks with 12 points.

Notre Dame wasn't much better, shooting 36 percent (15 of 42) and committing 18 turnovers.

"Both teams played hard, but they just didn't get a lot done," said Vangilder. "It was two physical teams playing good defense. It's going to be a low-scoring game."

In the junior varsity game, Notre Dame also won 48-21.